As anti-LGBTQ+ bills from politicians spike across the United States, support for gay and transgender people is also declining among the public. While the majority of Americans still support marriage equality and anti-discrimination policies, a recent report from the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) said that the support for LGBTQ+ rights has gone down in the past few years. While around 72 percent of the public supported marriage equality in August 2021, just 66 percent said they supported it in 2023. The PRRI cites partisan dynamics as a factor behind the shift, which has largely influenced Republican voters. For example, support for policies requiring transgender people to use bathrooms based on their sex at birth nearly doubled among GOP voters in just seven years. Bathroom bills were supported by just 44 percent of Republicans in 2016, compared to 80 percent in 2023. Support for such policies among Democrats consistently remained low, with 31 percent in both years. However, the PRRI notes “trends in opinions have not been uniform across the United States.” Opposition to policies like bathroom bans remains strong in traditionally blue states, whereas support for them has been increasing in red states. While younger generations are more likely to support LGBTQ+ people — particularly transgender people — previous PRRI analysis has shown that partisanship could overcome generational divides.
